i had zero intention of even mentioning the latest decemeberist record, the king is dead, cause quite frankly they had fallen out of my favor about 3 records ago. sure there were some good songs on these records, but all in all they were quite a bore and terribly inconsistent. on a whim, i grabbed the king is dead and immediately was blown away by the opening track “dont carry it all.” i kept my excitement low cause i also really loved the opening of the crane wife, “the crane wife 3″ and really disliked the remainder. to be even more honest, my stint following colin meloy on twitter really soured me on the band. he came across as a pretentious prick, but then again maybe so do i?
after one listen to the king is dead, i was hooked. its a fabulous record, i must admit. first listen i was like man this sounds like a country-fied version of rem circa 85 cause a lot of the guitar tones sure as hell sounded like peter buck. come to find out, yeah buck plays on a few songs, gillian welch sings backup on 7 songs i believe, and david rawlings also plays throughout or at least on a couple tracks. so, if you had kinda given up on em, or maybe werent ever a fan, me thinks, in fact i know, you need to give this a spin. the video down there for “rise to me” really is the crown jewel of the record, imo.
amazon has the king is dead
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Count me in as well. I’ve never been a huge fan of these guys but I’m loving the new album. Could be the ties to mid-era REM, could be that that songs are well written and it sounds like it can hold up to the test of tme.
yeah they’re schtick, whatever it was, is gone and just a record full of great songs and no bullshit. having buck and welch on the record definitely doesnt hurt, but i loved the record before i even did a little research and found out those tidbits. granted having those two involved doesnt hurt at all…
Agreed Greg. I thought their last record sucked but your comments made me want to check this one out (and ultimately purchase on Amazon). Awesome! The best REM album in years.
I’ve always thought they were a decent band but they never did too much for me personally. However, this album is really good. This will make a fine soundtrack to the foot of snow that is about to come down on me.
I had never actually heard a Decemberists record until this one. I’m mostly a bluegrass / americana guy, so I assumed they were too indie rock for me. But when I heard Gillian sang harmony vocals on most of the album and Peter Buck was along for the ride, I had to check it out. So glad I did because it’s awesome. And yes while it does rip the old R.E.M. vibe, it’s still a great album. Good songwriting, great jangly guitars and beautiful harmonies are winners in my book.
All I hear in “Down By the Water” is “The One I Love.” Hate this band, sorry. (But I’ll be damned if I didn’t see the song title and sort of hope it was a PJ Harvey cover…)
ive never been a big fan, in fact like i said their last few records have been pretty shitty, but this is truly an excellent piece of work. im pretty sure peter buck’s influence on the record has something to do with it and its very rem-ish sound. i aint gonna complain.